


Fever and Awnkwardness

by Kris_lazycat



Category: Etrian Odyssey Series, 新・世界樹の迷宮 ミレニアムの少女 | Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
Genre: Blushing, Fever, Hero is called Rei for reasons I won't bother explaining since no one cares, Kinda?, M/M, Poisoning, Raquna ships it, Rei has no idea what the fuck is going on but that's okay, Rosa just wanted to be useful, Simon doesn't know how to deal with this, complimenting while being delusional and uninibited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23909893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kris_lazycat/pseuds/Kris_lazycat
Summary: Traveling through the second stratum to fulfill a quest, team Rudbeck has to fight an enormous amount of venomflies. After hours of fighting, the team has no more healing items, and Rei decides to let his body work out the poison by itself.Waking up the day after, he is unwilling to admit his idea wasn't the brightest
Relationships: Highlander/Simon Yorke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8





	Fever and Awnkwardness

**Author's Note:**

> My temporary obsession for a new pairing just started! They only have two fics, and I need to give them love before my obsession goes away. Also, if you skipped the tags, I named the Hero "Rei" (short for Leberecht that is like, a German name meaning justice)
> 
> The prompt for this was "Simon putting his forehead against Rei's to check if he has a fever" , enjoy!

This is getting _ridicolous._

"You're red! We should get you checked up, this might be bad!" Rei attempts to get out of Raquna's hold, to no avail. The worry is clear in her voice, and in their teammates' behaviour.

He didn't want to be fussed over: he was a grown man, thank you very much, and at the age of 19 he shouldn't have to struggle in order to regain his personal space. So maybe the poison wasn't treated fast enough and he'd gotten a small fever, so what? He could sweat it off no problem, he always ignored such small things back in the tribe.

"It's nothing, really. I'm just tired-" he tries and fails as Raquna forces him to sit on a stool. He could usually push her back, damn it. This is annoying.

"It's no good to push yourself, you know? It might get even worse if you let it be." Ricky's tone is stern. Even Arthur chides in.

"Yeesh, and I'm the reckless one! Even I wouldn't go around with a flu," the pestering continues, as Frederica goes to inform Simon of why their study session is being delayed. Rei feels horrible, and what strenght the thought of escaping had given him disappears. He bites his tongue to not say anything he might regret; it's not that he's not grateful for their concern, but he'd grown up relaying mostly on himself. He wasn't used to being cared of, and he did not enjoy worrying his only friends.

He bites back a first groan as two pair of footsteps get closer and closer, and then a second when Simon's worried expression comes into view.

"What's this about Rei being ill?"

Rosa (who had been the one to point out he was unwell, by the way) starts explaining his symptoms, as Ricky occasionally chimes in to offer opinions.

Suddenly the room is spinning. Oh no.

Mind preoccupied, he doesn't notice the cloaked figure getting closer until his skin registers the hands cupping his face gently. They gift a plaesant coolness, were Simon's hands always so cold? He leans into them. A sharp but soft sound acconpanies his action, and he's pretty sure he wasn't the one to make it, but his mind is getting foggy... before he knows it, he's staring into brown eyes. They're familiar, but there is an unfamiliar softness to them, and he's never seen them this up close. They're far lovelier than he'd given them credit for- is it normal to think eyes are beautiful? But then, he supposes he's heard something about that in poetry.

A hand is pushing back his brown hair, his braids, and those eyes get even closer as something comes to rest on his forehead. That, too, is cold. It feels so nice. Maybe he's forgetting something, he considers remembering, but then the pair of eyes boring into his own shift, and the light reflects on them just _so,_ and Rei is gone. His heart stops beating and his breath catches, and the eyes in front of him react sharply, widening and narrowing, pulling back, farther from him and _no,_ he doesn't want to be alone, so he grabs at fabric (it's soft) and pulls, and there is a lot of background noise that ends as fast as it started and he doesn't care. There's words being spoken, and he doesn't care about that either, as his lips pull up in a smile, and all he wants to say is how _pretty they are and-_

And everything fades to black.

-  
-  
-

When he wakes up, the first thing Rei registers is the stuffiness in his head. His eyes ache and his throat burns by the effort of swallowing alone, and it's almost unbearable. When is the last time he's felt this bad? A movement catches his eye and he turns his head slightly.

"Simon?"

The silver haired man stiffens slightly, and turns from the bookshelf to look at him, his expression a mixture of emotion too complex for Rei to grasp on the spot, and he's too physically drained to even consider trying. The medic makes his way towards his leader with measured step. This silence is the most awnkward either of them has exlerienced in a while, and continues even after Simon has taken a seat by Rei's side, and Rei has sat up a little to look at him better.

"....what happened?" his headeache makes his mind foggy, he has a hard time remembering how he got in this condition in the first place, so he decides this must be a compelling question. Simon clears his throat, and he looks caught off guard, for some reason.

"Right. You were poisoned by a monster as we traveled through the 2nd stratum. By the time we were able to heal you, the poison had already traveled fast. You are in no danger, but you must rest so that your fever may disappear."

"I see..."

The silence still feels heavy. Something is definitely amiss.

"Um, did anything else happen while-?"

Simon stands up so fast that the chair he was sitting on falls backwards onto the floor, accompanied by the clatter of wood against wood. Startled, the Highlander falls back onto the pillow at his back. From his position, he watches Simon scramble to put the chair back, look at him- look away from him, fix his glasses, all with an impressive speed, and then excuse himself, before he all but sprints out of the room.

The brown haired boy looks to the ceiling wondering what the hell just happened, but finds himself unable to answer.

Maybe it's all just been a fever dream. He spots a glass of water on the bedside table at his left and drinks from it, before deciding to drift back to sleep so he can speak to the real Simon when he wakes up.

-

_Oh gods. Oh??? Gods? Merciful deities, why must you forsake me so._

This is the extent to which Simon can process thoughts at the moment. Did he just flee? From their sick, half poisoned leader? Who probably needs help and words of reassurance that he isn't dying no matter how bad he feels (words that Simon wouldn't be prepared to give even in normal circumstances, if he's honest with himself)? He has to go back and apologize and explain that-

That what? _Oh you called me pretty in the haze of your feverish delirium and that kind of made me realize that you might be the most beautiful person I have ever met?_

......Simon is _not_ going back in that room.

"Simon? Ehy Simon, what are you doing here? Did he wake up?" He blinked. Arthur was in front of him. When did he get in the kitchen??

"Indeed, he has regained conciousness."

Arthur waits for more to be said, but when no words are spoken, he runs in the direction from which Simon had come, followed by Ricky. Simon sighed deeply. What a sticky situation...

He loses his balance and stumbles forward when a hand is slammed on his back. Turning around, the sight of his red-headed companion greets him. Her grin promises things he doesn't really want, but cannot avoid.

"So...." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. He rolled his eyes, and her arm circled his neck.

"Sir Yorke."

"Raquna, if you could refrain from-"

"Simon the scholar."

"Listen-"

"Mister 'oh so pretty'-"

"Raquna!" He swats her hand away with an indignant squawk, and she laughs heartily. The flush on his pale cheeks is plain to see, and he doesn't even bother trying to conceal it.

"He probably doesn't remember, so stop bringing it up."

"With the way you're acting, I won't need to!"

"As if I'd give myself away." but his shameful display replays in his mind, as if mocking him. His friend stops laughing, and puts a firm hand on his shoulder, an honest expression on her face.

"You have the bad habit of bottling things up. Talk to him, okay?"

And he doesn't want to. He really, _really_ doesn't want to, but he knows she's right, and-

"Okay...... I'll talk to him about it."

**Author's Note:**

> Boy, this went different than I had originally planned, buut I'm pretty satisfied nonetheless. I hope a lot of people can enjoy what I wrote at 2am, lol~


End file.
